Slovak phonology

Some additional notes includes the following (transcriptions in IPA unless otherwise stated): In the standard language, the stress is always on the first syllable of a word (or on the preceding preposition, see below).

Eastern dialects have penultimate stress (as in Polish), which at times makes them difficult to understand for speakers of standard Slovak.

Some of the north-central dialects have a weak stress on the first syllable, which becomes stronger and moves to the penultimate in certain cases.

The sample text is a reading of the first sentence of The North Wind and the Sun.

The transcription is based on a recording of a 28-year-old female speaker of standard Slovak from Bratislava.